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25th anniversary, Willy ten Bosch

InterShoot... concept or disease ?

It all started so innocently. My wife and my eldest son where a member of the shooting club where Stek Geerts was the inspiring man who made everybody around him so enthusiastic to put one’s shoulder to the wheel with him and under his guidance at the various (club) matches. It was only a logical extension that one also assisted with InterShoot.

When the European Championships where held in The Hague in 1982 my son Stephan participated as a junior competitor for the Netherlands. Being the proud father I am I had to come and watch. As I worked around the corner, that was not a problem. On top of that my wife worked in the scoring bureau. During the price giving ceremony something went wrong and as it happened I was on the spot where it went wrong and without a second thought I jumped in to help. I shouldn’t have done this as Stek had spotted it and therefore he added me to the already large numbers of volunteers.

At the next InterShoot there was no escaping and the inspiring leadership of Stek made me very rapidly feel at home amongst all those shooters. I already had been assisting a few times organizing Dutch sporting events. As a lover of the base- and softball sports I was already actively involved, both organizationally as well as sportingly.

When the 1986 baseball world championships where assigned to the Netherlands I was honored to assist organizing the event in a secretarial function. It was an organization that was only set up some years before and demanded a lot of time. Stek spotted this quite quickly and when the final matters where closed off in 1987, Stek was very quick off the mark to enlist me as his right-hand man. I was sold.

Unfortunately Stek was not allowed to stay amongst us for very much longer and when he passed away in 1988 I considered it an honor to continue his work together with some enthusiastic shooters. As such it happened in honor of him who made it possible to position a yearly international match in the Netherlands.

From the outset of my involvement in InterShoot as a non-shooter I experienced a wonderful cooperation with both helpers and shooters. The yearly challenge for all of us not only was a limitless challenge, but moreover one big party. And I believe that that is the secret of our organization. We all find it a party. Helpers to help, and welcome our guests; shooters from wherever in the world to come to InterShoot and jointly with us perform their sport.

For now, we as organizers and helpers, are not planning to give up InterShoot. We will continue and look upon the past 25 years as an experience on the basis of which we will continue the party. The only thing we need pay attention to is that we will be succeeded and that we will pass on the baton properly. And so we will. We hope to continue to radiate our enjoyment. In reality, doing this is not a sport, it is a disease. We’re infected by a virus.